Source: StemCells, Inc.
Date: June 8, 2009
Summary:
In an official company news release, Stem Cells, Inc., a biotechnology company in the field of stem cell research, announced positive results from its clinical trial using purified human neural stem cells to treat Batten disease:
" StemCells, Inc. announced today positive results from the first Phase I clinical trial of its proprietary HuCNS-SC ® product candidate (purified human neural stem cells), including demonstration of a favorable safety profile along with evidence of engraftment and long-term survival of the HuCNS-SC cells. The Phase I trial was designed primarily to assess the safety of HuCNS-SC cells as a potential cell-based therapeutic. Six patients with advanced stages of infantile and late infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (NCL), often referred to as Batten disease, were transplanted with HuCNS-SC cells and followed for 12 months. Overall, the Phase I data demonstrated that high doses of HuCNS-SC cells, delivered by a direct transplantation procedure into multiple sites within the brain, followed by twelve months of immunosuppression, were well tolerated by all six patients enrolled in the trial. The patients’ medical, neurological and neuropsychological conditions, following transplantation, appeared consistent with the normal course of the disease."
